Meet Amy Sarant | Entrepreneur and Business Manager

We had the good fortune of connecting with Amy Sarant and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Amy, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I always say it’s our COVID baby! My husband and I were both laid off during COVID (I’m in the dental field and he was working as a car salesman at the time) and the long story short of it is that we had a burger from a major chain restaurant when everyone was doing the curbside/eat in your car thing at the beginning of the shut down and my husband got a terrible burger- the meat was cold and the lettuce was hot! He jokingly said that he could sell a better burger off the back of a truck so I said…”let’s do it”! (He is a classically trained chef by the way, so has a lot of restaurant experience and knowledge so it wasn’t TOTALLY crazy!) A few weeks later, we took The biggest leap of faith and emptied out all of our savings accounts, cashed in all of our lines of credit, and paid cash for busted up old barbecue trailer, which we disassembled, updated, and put back together in our driveway and open the food truck four weeks later! We saw the need for some thing in our area, an opportunity to make it happen, and it just so happened to be a great time for food trucks with social distancing and everyone trying to find alternatives to going out to eat. We actually had our Facebook page and our business license before we even purchased the food truck so we started building momentum from the very beginning. Fast-forward to about a year and a half later and we had the opportunity to take over the spot of a restaurant in our hometown which was closing down so we never dreamed it would happen so fast but we opened up our restaurant in February 2022 and we have our second opening Sometime this summer or fall. It’s been quite a ride!

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My first career is in the dental field. I started with zero experience when I was 19 and have grown and learned the industry for the last 22 years. I was a nanny for a dentist and she offered me a summer job as an assistant at her office, which led to a career in one of the most interesting and advancing fields. I worked my way up from an assistant to sterilization assistant to an expanded function dental assistant to practice manager. I’ve also done some consulting work and training for dental practices. Currently, I am the practice manager for an amazing dental office and I love helping people every day. My restaurant life is a completely new one! Before we opened the food truck I had never worked in the food service industry aside from being a cashier at Chick-fil-A for my first job. When Chris and I saw the opportunity to start our own company I was able to take my years of experience in managing a dental office and try to somehow translate those skills to apply to managing the business side of a restaurant.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Obviously I’d take them to Chubby’s Burgers in Blythewood for the best burgers in the Midlands and live music on Friday nights! I love history and the arts so I would definitely take them to the museums (Columbia Art Museum, SC State Museum, local historic tours, etc) and maybe a performance at one of our many wonderful local theaters. Riverbanks Zoo is always a must followed by a picnic at Riverfront Park. There are so many amazing local restaurants and I’m a foodie so we would definitely check out some of the great unique to Columbia food spots, which would keep us busy the whole week!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
We honestly wouldn’t be what we are without our incredible team of employees who work so hard every day to make Chubby’s what it is. So I have to give a huge thanks to the people who make it happen every day. Also, our family and friends who have loved and supported us and encouraged us through every step of the way. Without them, we never could have even gotten this thing off the ground much less kept it alive and made it grow over the last few years. We have an amazing business partner who has really taught us a lot and helped us grow our business so I’d like to thank Paul Yoo, Operating Partner of Chubby’s Burgers, LLC who joined us earlier this year. And of course I have to give the biggest props to my husband Chris who is the brains and the heart behind the whole thing. He has this incredible drive to achieve his goals despite all odds and it’s such an inspiration to me to see him excelling at what truly makes him happy. Last but not least, my kids who keep me going and striving to be a better person every single day. They have been on every up and down of this crazy ride right long with us and they are my heroes!

Website: www.chubbysburgerssc.com

Facebook: Chubby’s Burgers & Brewhouse

Yelp: https://m.yelp.com/biz/chubbys-burgers-and-brewhouse-blythewood

Image Credits
-Yami Hymel Photography (burger pic) -Stephanie Williams Photography (professional headshot in scrubs)